SWEETWATER COUNTY — A couple traveling from California were arrested Sunday when 168 pounds of marijuana was found inside their U-Haul rental moving van, Sweetwater County Sheriff Mike Lowell said Monday morning.

Jesse Marshall Davis, 27, of Atascadero, California, and Kelsey Rae Hunsaker, 22, Benton, California, are each charged with felony-grade Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver, and Conspiracy.

Lowell said a county K9 unit stopped the eastbound van very early Sunday morning when it was observed to be “drifting all over the road” on Interstate 80 about six miles east of Rock Springs. Davis was driving the van; Hunsaker was the passenger.

Advertisement - Story continues below...

The specially-trained and certified K9 deputy alerted to the presence of drugs, which led to a search and the discovery of 147 individual vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana weighing a total of 168 pounds.

Davis and Hunsaker remain in custody at the Sweetwater County Detention Center pending their initial appearance in Circuit Court.

Lowell said the Sheriff’s Office follows a policy of not identifying its dog handlers and their K9 partners by name in the media in drug seizure cases due to nationwide incidences of threats against law enforcement officers and their dogs.

In the last four months, Sheriff’s Office K9 teams made 19 felony drug arrests and seized over half a ton of marijuana, liquid marijuana, dab (marijuana wax), heroin, and methamphetamine with a street value of well over $1.4 million.